


The story of life

by Theresahudson888



Category: Stranger Things - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 04:30:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14324622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theresahudson888/pseuds/Theresahudson888
Summary: 15 years old El Hopper have been homeschooled her hole life. Hidden away frim the public eye but she was now about to be introduced to the real world. Her only long lasting friend is Max Mayfield and she is going to help El survive High School.What she don’t know is how her life all if a sudden gets a lot more interesting when she met a certain freckled boy with messy hair.This is a story of Mike and El, from their first meeting and all the way til their last.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hii! So this is my first story....ever. And I’m still getting used to the english launguage So I would appreciate if you guys went easy on me! I have no idea if I should even carry on writing this, so if you think I should I would LOOOOVE if you dropped a comment down below:)

This was going to be her first day. Her first day in school ever. Chief Hopper had been teaching her to the point of were she could attend school. But she would definitely not be good at it. She was now 15 years old and truly wanted to be homeschooled forever but Hopper told her she had to learn how to socialize with people, therefore school. But she had a friend, Max. Wasn’t that enough? Apparently not. Max’s parents and chief Hopper was old buddies from high school and she was always really fun to hang out with. It didn’t take the girls long to become BFF’s tighter than glue. Max was going to help her get through high school. El knew she could count on Maxine in that matter. 

“Here you go” Hopper gave El her favorite kind of food, since it was her first day, eggos.  
El happily started eating, but she wasn’t completely happy. She knew she would make a fool of herself at school. 

“Don’t look so sad, cheer up a bit” Hopper gave El a strained smile. He didn’t smile much so it looked kind of funny. But he was always to nice to her. She was really happy that she got to live with him. He was like her REAL dad. Before she was so alone, no one cared and neither did she. Hopper was in a way her savior.

“It would be so good for you to make some friends” he added looking concerned.

“Im too not normal!” El said and looked down. 

“Nobodies normal” Hopper replied.

“Max is, and you are” 

“Far away from even close to normal, in that case yes.” Hopper truly tried his best to cheer her up. 

“Hurry up and eat your eggos, we’re going to pick up Max in 10” he said and went outside to start the car. They lived in a cabin quite a bit from Max’s place. And school for that matter. Exactly ten minutes later Hopper’s police car arrived outside Max’s house. The pretty redheaded girl jumped inside next to El with her skateboard. 

“Sup losers?” She greeted with her as far as considered normal attitude. 

“Pretty shaken up” El nervously said.

“Don’t be, you’ll easy get thought this, and besides, you got me!” Max smiled and El smiled for the first time today. 

“Yeah that’s a lot of comfort” Hopper said with sarcasm and a smile.

“Shut up!” Max said with joke in her attitude this time. 

“Can I have a look at your schedule?” Max reached her hand out and El put a piece of paper she got in the mail a few days back. 

“Okay..” Max was concentrated.

“I got good and bad news” she said when she read it.

”Hit me” El said being prepared to be upset.

“We got a lot of lunch periods together, every day except on Thursdays. That was the good news and the bad news is that we barely have any classes together!” Max said.

“We got two classes together today and one on Wednesday but thats it” Max was very disappointed.

“It could have been worse” El claimed not too upset. 

“I know, you don’t really have time to hang out during lessons anyways” Max gave back the paper.

“Yeah right” El took it and then dropped her head.

“We are here!” Hopper said and stopped the car in front of a very big building with a sign that said ‘Hawkins high school’. They jumped out of the car and took their backpacks out. El let a sight out by looking at what in her opinion was the biggest building ever. 

“I’ll pick you up after school” Hopper said m.

“3.15 I know” El said without looking at him.

“It’s normal to be nervous your first day, It will be easier the second, I promise” He said seeing her looking so concerned.

“Promise?” Now she looked at him.

“Promise” he said.

“Okay” El gathered courage, waved Hopper goodbye and entered the building along with Max. 

“Okay so you have to go to the reception and get your books, it’s this way I’ll show you” Max said leading El forward. She could see a lot of people forcing their way forward just as her and Max. She was kind if astonished seeing that everybody nudged everybody and it was completely normal. Physical contact wasn’t normal to her. 

“Hello sweetheart! You must be the chief’s adopted daughter” a big woman with a deep voice talked to her. El smiled polite.

“Yes, I’m Elenor Hopper” 

“Of course I know that, This is a small town honey, truly everybody is expecting you today!” El’s smile faded away as the woman spoke.

“Everybody?” The big woman noticed El’s public shyness and changed the subject.

“I’m Mrs Richards by the way and here are your books” she gave El a staple of books in different colors. 

“Ms Mayfield, should you not be in class? You don’t want to be late!” 

“I’m helping Eleanor here!” Max defended herself.

“And i’m trying to help you avoiding the principle’s office” Mrs Richards said back and Max sighed.

“You good?” She looked at El.

“Yeah yeah, you go!” El answered and nodded. Max slowly walked away leaving El with Mrs Richards. 

“Okay, your locker is number 173, that’s the ones just down the hall to the left” she showed El on a map over the school that she later handed over to her to keep.

“And your code is 66-55-11” El looked up in shook when she heard the last number. Was this a coincidence? Or fate?

“I’ll write everything down for you. And if your having a hard time finding anything, just come to me and I’ll help you” 

“Thank you and actually... can you help me find room B12 please” El talked politely the way Hopper told her to do. He himself was not a master at that.

“Of course, B12. Well that’s the biology classroom with Mr Clarke. Follow the hallway to the left, take another left turn and you’ll find it” Mrs Richards smiled and El nodded.

“Thank you, bye” 

El followed her instructions and found the biology classroom almost immediately. Now everybody was in class and no one could be seen in the hallway. El opened the door and entered. 

“You did not beat the high score man” Lucas was sitting on the desk behind Mike.

“Hell yeah I did. And not just beat it, i crushed it!” Dustin claimed sitting on Mike’s left. 

“Yeah sure, with 2 points” Will just had to break reality to Dustin.

“So? I still got the high score and no one else can beat me now! Not even MadMax whoever that is” Dustin sounded too reckless to even bother continue the argue.

“Keep telling yourself that” Mike laughed.

“Have you guys heard anything about the new girl?” Will leans closer as he whispers.

“I’ve heard she’s been homeschooled till now, kind of creepy” Lucas added.

“I think she’s supposed to be in our class now, wonder where she’s at?” Dustin said looking around. Mike and his friends knew almost every kid in their school and it was getting boring. A new girl could make things a little more interesting. They were kind of nerdy, but everybody still thought they were kind of cool. In a way, somehow. Maybe it was god’s doing?  
Mr Clarke raised his voice.

“Okay class, let’s begin today’s lesson! Can someone tell me what it will be about?” Dustin raised his hand and Mr Clarke pointed at him.

“Mr Henderson” 

“It will be about the ABO-system”

“Correct, so I’ll begin with...” but Mr Clarke got interrupted by the door that swung open and a girl stepped in. She was dressed in a pair of denim jeans and a light green sweater. Her backpack was thrown over her shoulder. Mike did truly stare at her. Her dark brown short hair and perfectly burned skin made his hair raise. She was beautiful. Her eyes scanned the room really quick before she faced Mr Clarke.

“You must be Eleanor Hopper, why don’t you introduce yourself to the rest of the class!” Mr Clarke suggested and turned to the class.

“Mmhmm... well... I’m Eleanor Hopper, but I go by El. I moved in with the Chief” That was all she said.

She was smoking hot. Not like any other girl in his grade, or even school. 

“Hello El, we were just about to begin class with organizing this semesters partners! So if you don’t mind standing there just a few more seconds...” Mr Clarke mumbled.

“No problem” 

She was very quite too. Mike liked that.

“Okay then..Ms Smith with Ms Hart... Mr Jack with Ms Keen... Mr Henderson with Ms Hayes” Dustin smiled like a fool and happily turned to sit with (in his opinion) was the prettiest girl in this school. Ms Jennifer Hayes.

“Mr Dunkirk with Mr Harrington...Mr Byers with Mr Sinclair” Lucas and Will high five each other and took an empty table. Mr Clarke continued rambling up some names and Mike didn’t pay much attention until they got to his name. 

“Mr Wheeler, you can work with our new student Ms Hopper” The pretty girl looked through the room to find her partner and Mike waved at her to come to his table.

Who could Mr Wheeler be? El wondered fir herself and like someone had read her mind a hand waved at her to sit down next to him. She took her place next to a tall, freckled very very cute boy. El reached for her backpack to pick up her biology book. It was the green one.

“Okay kids, I’m going to get a scale to show you the full ABO-system” Mr Clarke said and left the room. NO, don’t leave!!! Was all El could think of. A teacher leaving meant she had to talk to the boy next to her. And she didn’t want to screw everything up already. Everybody started talking the second Mr Clarke left the classroom. Her plan to totally ignore her very cute partner didn’t went in the direction she first had intended.

“I’m Mike by the way” 

His gaze meet her. His dark eyes immediately made her blush. OMG El this is not the time. You can’t be all dreamy about the the first boy you meet!! Bring it together. Stubborn not to be s freak she spoke up. 

“I’m El in case you missed it” She was brave enough to not drop her eyes immediately after. Instead she saw him smiling. A very nice smile. 

“Yeah I remember, everybody has kind of expected you” he said totally focused on her. She couldn’t pull of being fake brave anymore so she let her gaze droop.

“Is it that bad?” 

“What??No. Well i guess if you want to be invisible than that will be kind of hard”

“Oh god” she sighed and she could hear that the boy didn’t gave up talking to her.

”If you just ignore them, it will be okay. What brings you to Hawkins anyways?”  
He asks. Mike was a very curious boy all of a sudden. Was everybody this nice?

“I was... adopted” ready to get a lot of laughs El pressed her lips together but the boy didn’t comment it. She knew that it was technically a lie but it was THE lie she had agreed on with Hopper. El was given the impression she should also try to communicate and not just answer his questions.

“So, were are you from?” Her gaze looked up this time. His freckled and still pale skin was a perfect combination. Many girls must be drooling over him.

“I’ve lived in Hawkins my hole life, kind if boring. There is really nothing to do here. Except for going to the movie drive in. My sister, Nancy she got accepted to Harvard and she truly lives in the bigger cities now and....” Mike stopped himself.

“Now im just rambling, ain’t I?” She can’t help herself from laughing and he smiles again.

Her laugh. Even her laugh is attractive. This was more than just a fine girl, Mike could tell.

“No please, carry on” she says with a now much bigger smile. Even showing a little teeth’s. 

“Okay, my future plans is to become a bio engineer and in order to do that Mt Clarke’s class is really important, how about you?” He can’t help but to wonder. 

“What I want in the future? Well that is a hard question but i have always wanted to be a writer” she began to warm up to him. Mike could se that on the look on her face. She didn’t open up to a lot of people.

“A writer huh? You like books?” Smooth wheeler. Asking a writer-in-the-future if she likes books? How stupid could you be. 

“Yeah, libraries is my thing” she answers looks down like she’s embarrassed or something. 

“I like books too” He says, not because he really likes books that much or anything but he didn’t want her to feel stupid or something. He was into science after all. 

He was just about to ask her more when Mr Clarke showed up. Damn you Mr Clarke. This girl was... interesting. 

Mr Clarke carried on the lesson and she didn’t talk to him more. But sometimes when he was glancing her way he could see that she was looking at him too. Or was that imagination? He had a hard time focusing on Mr Clarke’s talk the way he use to. The class listned to him talking and then the bell rang. El quickly gathered her stuff before he could talk to her some more. She was the first one out of the classroom.

After she hurries out of the classroom she went straight to her locker. She had two reasons why she wanted to leave fast, Max was waiting for her ..... and..... she didn’t want Mike to notice the blush on her face. He was literally staring at her the hole time. Real life was even better than all of the movies. On her way to the locker she bumped into a tall figure and dropped her books. Quickly without looking she bend down to pick up the books. The boy she had bumped into bend down too to help her. 

“Hey, i’m really sorry for that. I got pushed by one of my friends” he laughs and El noticed his Hollywood smile. But she didn’t laugh with him. There was something wrong with his smile. It was forced. He was playing with her.

“It’s okay” she simply answer and is just about to walk away when she gets stopped by him.

“I’m Troy”

“I’m sorry, I just got to get through...” El tried to push her way through a little harder this time but he is blocking the way.

“And you are??...” He wanted an answer. She could tell. This Troy was not so nice.

“I’m late” she was beginning to get a little angry with him. 

“Now move” her voice hardened. El was truly pissed. But Troy just laughed. 

“Just let her leave Troy” a familiar voice from behind made them all turn around. Mike came and stood beside El.

“You got a girlfriend Frog-face?” Troy smiled his fake smile again.

“C’mon” Mike put his hand on her back and lead her to the side. Away from Troy and his friends. When they were out of sight Mike took his hand back.

“They can be such mouth breathers, if you just ignore them long enough, they will lose interest” He says and she nods. 

“Thanks” Now she leave Mike too. Max was truly waiting for her at her locker and she didn’t want to be late. Even though she wanted to keep talk to Mike. He was so nice.

When she found her way to the locker she saw Max standing there.

“Where have you been?” 

“It was crowded” she answers and opens her locker without any problems. The code worked perfectly.

“We got math together now, you want be to show you were the maths at?” Max asks.

“Yeah sure, lead me the way” 

She followed Max through all of the people and suffice to ask some questions.

“Who is Troy?” 

“Troy....??” Max looked confused.

“Well I didn’t ask for his last name. Not the first one either actually” 

“I guess you mean Troy Harrington, really good looking but the biggest dick you can find around here. A real mouth breather” Max was very clear about her opinions. Might just be the only boy I have ever punched. 

“You punched him??” El was really surprised. Angry words? Sure but physical violence wasn’t usually Max’s thing.

“He called one of my friends a whore after using her and I couldn’t see her stand there getting crushed, so I might have called him a, and let me recall ‘total dickhead with no empathy for others’ and then he just laughed. I couldn’t take it and punch him. Principal’s office right after that” 

El froze in place. 

“Really?”

She was just so surprised she hadn’t heard this story before. Max was her best friend. 

“Did I mention i had PMS at the time?”  
Max added and El came back to reality laughing. They entered a large classroom with a sign that said ‘Math with Mr Carlson’. The girls took a seat far away from the black board. 

“What do you know about Mike Wheeler the?” This was a question she had been dying to ask.

“Wheeler? Ah nothing really. I just know that he’s pretty normal hanging out with some guys I see at the arcade sometimes trying to beat my high score. But I’m to good. Pretty decent human beings” Max hadn’t got a bad impression at least. El liked Mike. He was really nice. And he’s friends seemed according to Max really great too.  
Max really liked to talk much El had noticed. El was always giving simple not so describing comments while Max always said everything she could think of. The teacher known by the name Mr Carlson walked in and class began.  
El decided pretty quickly that she absolutely hated math. It was so damn boring. And the fact that Mr Carlson asked her a bunch of imposible questions in front of everybody didn’t exactly help. Max tried to help her out but even she didn’t know all the answers. Mr Carlson was clearly being a bitch cause he didn’t like El. Damn you Mr Carlson. 

When the class finally was over it was time for lunch. El took her food, paid for it and followed Max to a table with two other girls.

“El, this is Tess and Marissa, Tess and Marissa i give you El!” Max introduce her as they sat down. One of the girls with long brown shining hair reacher her hand out and El shook it. 

“I’m Marissa and I am by far the coolest person you will ever meet” she joked and laughed. She was pretty cool actually. So relaxed that it fascinated El. 

“The second coolest” the other girl who’s name must be Tess corrected Marissa.

“Im Theresa Palmer but i am called Tess” she also smiled and it was as wide as the sun. Why did Marissa was so relaxed and beautiful and Tess owned a smile brighter than the sun and she had nothing? God was not so fair always she thought for herself. 

“Well im El and I absolutely hate math” she had learned that exposing weaknesses made people trust you. 

“Yeah god, Mr Carlson is the worst!” Tess shouted without caring who heard her. That was also something El found fascinating, not giving two shits about what others think if you. 

“Hmm, that’s weird because i remember a certain someone who had a big crush on Mr Carlson in 5th grade” Max had to spill it out and they all laughed.

“Hey, don’t judge me! He was really good looking a few years back, but now.... now he’s just mean” Tess said and they all laughed once again. Never in her life had El laughed so much as she did with these girls over lunch. 

“Agreed” Marissa answered Tess when the laughing had cooled down a bit. 

“I know you took it!” Lucas yelled at Dustin.

“Took what?” He answered settling down at their casual table with his friends. 

“Don’t play stupid with me, my x-men5000 of course!”

“Don’t blame him, you forgot it at my place this weekend!” Mike said in Dustin’s place.

“Yeah see? Im innocent” Dustin had a Fancy winning smile. 

“But you took his x-men the last time it was gone” Will reminded Dustin with a smile. 

“Aha, see? Thanks Byers” Lucas now owned the winning smile. 

“Yeah yeah whatever, i though we could watch a movie this weekend?” Will continued.

“The drive in is playing Star Wars this weekend i think, who’s in?” Mike suggested.

“But we don’t have a car?” Lucas questioned.

“We can ride our bikes” Mike said.

“Yeah sure that’s not weird at all to do at a drive in” Dustin was so sarcastic saying that.

“So? I think it’ll be fun” Mike said.

“Okay man if you says so, im in” Dustin threw a piece of pizza at Mike.

“Count on me” Will said.

“Guess im in too” Lucas said 

“Great!! I’ll fix the tickets on Wednesday” Mike said. 

They all began to eat the lunch.

“How’s new girl by the way Mike?” Will couldn’t help himself from asking.

“Is she all weird and strange?” Now Dustin was interested too.

“Naw, she’s fine” He quickly answers trying not to show his obvious blushing.

“Fine? I don’t think so, give us more” Lucas was a true girl talker. He loved talking gossip. 

“Well, she’s very nice.... and good at biology... and very pretty too” he couldn’t help himself from saying that last part. Mike instantly regret saying anything at all. Luckily non of the other boys seemed to notice.

“Pretty, but not as pretty as my biology partner!” You could almost see Dustin’s heart shaped eyes.

“My partner’s kind of an Ass, like literally” Will said and laughed.

“Hey!” Lucas threw a slice on will this time and they all laughed. It was just like kinder-garden, food everywhere. A girl came up at them from behind. Her name was Melanie Mike thought. 

”Hello boys, party at my place Friday the thirteenth, make sure to be there” she handed out a flyer to each of them and then 

“Thanks” Dustin said and scanned through the flyer. The party started at 9pm Friday the thirteenth. When Melanie had left to hand out flyers to other tables Lucas said.

“Should we go?” 

“Yeah sure getting all wasted and not remembering anything sounds great”  
Will was optimistic.

“Don’t be such a party pooper! Lucas might see his girlfriend there!” Dustin wanted to go to the party.

“Stop it! She might hear you, our table isn’t that far away from theirs” Lucas was annoyed. Dustin sighed.

“C’mon Mike, your in right?” He looked at Mike with puppy eyes. She would maybe be there. El might be there.

“I’m in” he said and Dustin clapped like an excited teenage girl. They had attended parties before. Mike had even made out with some girls at parties before, but never getting like REALLY wasted. This was going to be a new life experience. Fun. It was next Friday so they had a lot of things to think of before they could think of any parties at all. Like the history homework that suppost to be in on Thursday. Yeah that’s what he should have his mind on and not some stupid party.

”God Dustin, your such a drama queen” Will just had to add.

”Shut up!! It’s called being excited!”

“In a really girly way?” Lucas said and got a slap in response from Dustin. 

“Are everybody done? We got P.E in 10” Mike said and the rest if the party nodded and left the table.

The girls had P.E. now so they hurried to the gym. Luckily this class, El had together with Marissa, Tess and Max. All in one. It was good cause she would have felt very lonely without them. Today they were going to play basketball. In the girls room they all changed into very tight shorts. Too tight. But nobody else mentioned it so El shut her mouth too. When they got out in the bigger room she noticed that the boys had way mire comfortable clothes. She was jealous. She also noticed that Mike, the boy who she sat next to in Biology was there. He was laughing with his friends at some joke. He looked really nice while laughing she decided. Like really good. Mike was really tall, freckled with curly black hair.

Max suddenly shook her arm.

“Are you okay? You are staring” she asked.  
Within seconds Em turned her gaze down and pretended not to look.

“Yeah yeah im fine” a wide blush covered her face. Max had that look on her face El could see. That look that said ‘don’t you try to lie to me girl’ but luckily Tess interrupted them before Max had the change to ask any more.  
She bounced a orange ball into the ground. El had watched basketball on the TV a amounts of time so she knew all of the rules. A teacher walked in and everybody took a seat at the bench behind. 

“Hello students! Basketball today, as usual girls and boys separated...” but the teacher got interrupted by Marissa raising her hand but speaking before she was aloud to.

“Excuse me, that is discriminatory. Girls is just as good as boys” she said with a cooky face.

“ I agree Mr Gray, why can’t we just mix teams?” Max was the one talking now. But El just kept quiet not knowing what to really say. 

Mr Gray looked at the girls with tired eyes. As if he didn’t bother argue with them.

“As you wish..” He said , 4 teams girls and boys mixed!” Mr gray continued.

“Ms Palmer, Ms Cooper and Ms Rust, you are the girls in team one.” 

“Ms Mayfield and Ms Hopper... Ms Hopper.. you must be our new student” Mr Gray looked up at El. She simply nodded hoping not having to introduce herself again. But Mr Gray just kept reading.

“You are the girls in team 2” 

Mr Gray kept on reading up a few names and then he began with the boys.

“Team one boys is Mr Harrington, Mr Mockle” 

“Team two boys...” Mr Gray began. Hope they are very good.

“Team two boys are Mr Henderson, Sinclair and Wheeler” 

Mr Wheeler? Like in Mike Wheeler? Was this fate somehow? El tried her best not to turn pink as she walked with Max to her teammates. 

“Now pair up and decide some tactics, first up is team one agains team two. And remember! No cheating allowed!” MR Gray sounded tired again.

El and Max paired up with Mike and his dark skinned friend and another of his friend with brown curly hair just like Mike’s.

“Hi girls, Im Dustin” The boy now known as Dustin was the one with curly brown hair. His smile was very odd. But it looked nice. Not like when Mike smiled, but nice.

“Im Max” Max said and nodded her head like a badass. El was truly impressed. 

“Im Lucas” 

El hadn’t had the currage to look up at Mike until now.

“And I’m El incase you forgot” 

“Mike” he simply said si that Max would know but he was only looking at El. 

She had to turn her gaze down. Mike was totally staring at her.

“okay well I suggest we have a small competition to decide who should be the striker. You miss, your out” Max said clearly and took a ball. Max nailed the first 3 round perfectly but missed the 4th time. Lucas scored 5 times, Dustin cero times and Mike 3 times. But El, oh little sweet El scored all 10/10 times. Basketball was her jam.

“Wow!! Another?? You are crazy. You are easy our Striker” Dustin said.

“Yeah that last shot was unbelievable!” Mike was also impressed and El couldn’t face him. She just knew that it would cause her to blush even more. Why was this boy having such a impact over her? 

The game began and team two took positions. El got the ball first and passed to Lucas right behind her who later passed to Max on the other side who easily scored the first two points of the game. Dustin gave her a smile and a high five. They slaughtered the other Team. And El was really on fire. She nailed a bunch of tree shots in a row. No one could stop her. After the first game it was time for team 3-4 to play and they had some time to rest. 

“That was amazing!! I never thought J would beat Troy in basketball!” Max just laughed at Dustin enthusiasm. 

“Excuse me, You beat Troy?” Lucas smiled. 

“Yeah yeah sure, WE beat Troy” Dustin added.

“You guys could actually play a little I’m impressed” Max added.

“You are impressed you should have seen yourself out there!” Lucas stared at her and if El wasn’t a weirdo she could have almost assumed he was hitting on her somehow.

“And you El, not to mention. I’ve never seen a girl that plays so good” Mike talked to El.

“You weren’t that bad yourself” she added and smiled.

“ Yeah El!! Did you seriously nail all of your shots?? It was amazing. You should try out for the basketball team.” Dustin said still in shook. 

El just smile slightly embarrassed. Was she really that good? It felt good. They continued playing the rest of games and won every single one. The boys and the girls truly got along really good. It was almost as if they became friends. It turns out that they had a lot in comment what so ever. It was the best (not to mention, first) school day ever. El Hopper was the happiest girl in the world that day when Hopper picked her up after school. 

“How was it?” She and Max jumped in the car and Hopper when asked her. 

“I loved it” Was all she could think of saying.

“Hahah yeah it was pretty awesome, even I made some new friends. Quite a shook that it turns out to be the nerds” Max actually sondes both happy and surprised. 

“See? I told you it was going to be great” Hopper drove off and El could see a smile on his face once again. A real one.

“You were right, if you don’t count the fact that I now absolutely hate Math” she cracked the joke and Max laughed.

“Who doesn’t?” Max smiled when she later said goodbye and went home. 

That night El slept very good, without any nightmares at all. 


	2. Chapter 2

The arcade. Max absolutely loved the arcade, and every Sunday she was free, she spent there. Hopper dropped them off with a few pennies to play away.

”Why do you even like this place?” Hopper asked as he turned off the engine.

“C’mon give me a break! You’ve been picking on me since forever just because I love to play some games?” Max said with her obvious love-hate relationship with Hopper.  
El liked them both very much and enjoyed that they had gotten so close lately. Almost as if Max were one of his own. She liked that, too think of Max more like a sister rather than just a friend.

“Okay okay go easy!” Hopper yelped and gestured for them to head out.

“Take care” He nodded as they walked away.

Max all excited as usual practically ran out of the car and into the arcade.

“C’mon El! Hurry up” Max yelled while running.

El shock her head in the car and laughed. Max’s enthusiasm made her light up. Max was such a pure sole.

“Bye hop!” El said and also jumped out of the car.

Inside it was not so crowded as it used to be, it was something about some big movie at the theater. But Max didn’t like most movies, which was weird. Movies were awesome.

They had plans on spending their evening there however. It was according to Max just ‘the place to be’.

“Dig Dug is free!” Max dragged El by her sleeve too an old machine with pretty paint on.

“You again?” An old figure that El immediately recognized. A half grown up half weirdo showed up with a name tag that said ‘Keith’. He had a bag of chips in his hand as always.

“Scared I’ll break your high score?” Max said back fully concentrated in the game as El watched her play. She was really good, it showed that she had a lot of practice.

“You know I hate those childish games” Keith replied and Max just laughed.

“Since when?” El looked up at him with her eyebrows stretched out like question marks.

“Keeping your figure I assume?” Max teased him about the bag of chips and that was enough for him to shut up and leave.

“Finally” Max whispered and let out a sight.

“That dick can’t stop annoy me” 

“Maybe his just having a bad day?” El suggested feeling like Max was a little harsh calling him a dick. He had never really done anything to make her feel uncomfortable, yet.

“For the past three years? Don’t think so” she had settled her mind and El choose to shut up and just watched her play. It was quite interesting to see how she planned every move to win. Max was very strategic when it came to games, real life? Not so much.

“Hell yeah! Look at that!” Max jumped up screaming and pointing at the screen.

“800 400 points on Dig Dug! That’s a new high score no one will beat!” She used her evil voice and then laughed. El smiled and gave her a high five in excitement for her friend. And that was when she heard a very voice behind them.

“You are MadMax?” The girls turned around to face 4 boys their own age. El quickly recognized them as Dustin, Lucas, Will and Mike.

“Maybe, depends on who’s asking” Max said and looked over at them with one eyebrow raised, El just stood there beside her quit almost feeling like she was mute.

“We’ve been dying to find you!! How do you score so much on Dig Dug?” Lucas was All excited and stepped closer.

“Chill freaks, it’s called knowing the tricks” Max said now instead taking a step back. 

“There are tricks? Teach us!” Dustin demands and looks at Max with puppy eyes. 

“Wow relax, you got a looks that kills” she said referencing too a song she knew very well but didn’t thought the boys would notice.

“Mötley Crue?” Will, the Boy El only knew by name, asked shyly.

“Yeah.... they are awesome” she said suddenly surprised they had anything in comment.

“Their latest album was obviously the best!” Dustin said trying to get involved in the subject.

“They only got one album idiot?” Max said and looked at him in disbelief.

“They do?” Dustin’s eyes went small and he look ashamed.

And then Max burst out in a laugh.

“Kiddin’ totally just fucking with you, yeah I agree, their latest album is their best so far” she laughed and turned to the game again.

All of the boys just standing there for a minute before realizing what was happening. 

“Do you want me too show you dickheads or not?” She said.

“Yeah yeah sure” Lucas said and also turned to the game to watch Max explaining the tricks, followed by Dustin and Will. But Mike just stood there like El.

“So you start of by...” but El stopped listen at Max’s conversation and turned to Mike instead.

His dark eyes were on her.

“Are you here often?” He asked her and she shook her head.

“I’m truly only her because Max loves it so much” she said and smiled over at her friends making new friends. They laughed at something and it looked like they were enjoying themselves.

“What’s your excuse?” She said and looked up at him.

“Me and the guys, we’ve been here a lot when we were younger, I guess it’s too bring back some memories. It’s not as fun anymore as it was before” He added and pressed his lips together. That made El stop for a second. It almost looked like he lied? But why would he lie? She shook of the feeling and continued small talking.

“Have you had the chance to play anything yet?” He asked instead and looked to the guys.

“Naw” El said and looked down. She was not so good at these games. 

“Why don’t I show you some of the best?” He said and smiled all warm making her stomach twist. Why was she so deeply infected by him. As if he had some force dragging her his direction.

Trying to cover up her thoughts she nodded and followed him into the back of the arcade.

“Here are Dragon’s lair, I would rate this the best game here, will you give it a shot?” He said and nervously she nodded. She couldn’t say no to him could she? He was standing pretty close. 

“I don’t know how you play?” She said and took a penny out of her pocket.

“It’s fine, I’ll teach you” he said and leaned down to the game so he could watch. Her cheeks warm as if she just stepped out of a hot shower. Warm? Again? Even this was beginning to be unhealthy.

“You play as Dirk the Daring and the mission is too safe Princess Daphne” He began.

“That’s stupid, a princess can save her own ass” El claimed not really thinking just blurting out what her mind was thinking.

Mike just laughed and said.

“I know, kind of lame” He said agreeing with her.

“However, continue” El said wanting Mike to explain more. Not because she really paid a lot of attention to the game anymore.

“Use that too move...” He pointed at one of the sparks.

She tried them out. 

“Like that?” She wanted confirmation.

“Yeah that’s really good! That other button on your right is for when you’re supposed to duck and the one on your left is for attack” He explained and El just looked at his face.  
Mike was cute while concentrated.

She grabbed the controls and began the game with putting in a penny. 

At her first try it didn’t go so well. She died after the second round. But as she tried again, she managed further. 

“Yeah good! See? I told you was going to be great!” He said as watching her face. Her lips twisted up in a small smile and her colored cheeks. God she was beautiful. 

“Couldn’t have done it without you” she took her eyes off the games and her body now facing his. 

“I know I am kind of awesome...” He said joking.

Her laugh filled Mike ears and he melted inside for a second.

“You wish” she said still laughing a bit.

He began to feel a little thirsty , all this energy he is spending on watching her takes a lot. He need to be refilled.

“Want something to drink?” He asked and glanced at the bar behind her.

“Yeah sure” she didn’t take her eyes of him and that made his heart ship a beat. 

“What do you want?” 

She looked like she was thinking for a minute and ans then she answered him.

“Surprise me” 

“A challenge? I accept” Mike said laughing and walked over to the childproofed bar behind. Will and Dustin already stood there talking when he got there.

“Hey man!” Dustin greeted him.

”How’s it going over there?” Will asked and he looked really curious so Mike answered honestly.

“Good, El is great!” 

“Great? It’s looking far nicer than well over there” Lucas said and one if his eyebrows lifted. 

“Shut up” Mike mumbled but truly he thought the same. El was far nicer than great. And they had just meet, was it weird to like feel that way about someone you barely know? How come he never meet her before? And why the hell were he asking so many questions in his head?

He returned to El shortly thereafter with two classes of water.

Mike handed one over to El and she took it and thanked him. But she gave him a suspicious look.

“What?” He said while taking a sip of his water.

“Water?” She smiled and looked down to the class.

“What? It was a safe card!” He defended himself and laughed. 

She smiled sadly and also took a sip. Something was wrong. But all she said was....

“Yeah sure” 

“How was I supposed to know what you’d like? I can get you anything else ” Mike said when he noticed El wasn’t completely okay with the choice.

“No It’s not that, the water is fine” she said and she sounded honest. 

“What it is then?” Mike began to feel uneasy.

“Just somethings at home, nothing you have to worry about, my dads picking me up in 5 so I should go and get Max” She said and the sad face she just made was completely gone. She could truly hide her emotions that was for sure. 

Mike nodded but still didn’t get rid of the bad feeling.

El walked away and found Max screaming by the Dig Dug machine.

“Easy easy tiger, you can’t win by being aggressive!!” Lucas laughed by her side.

“Watch me” Max mumbled. But El didn’t believe her fake angry look.

Max face was looking weird. Not like it used to. It looked.....happy. Max was pleased and that made El happy. But as always the spell had to be broken at some point.

“Max! My dad is waiting!” She said and got Max attention.

When El said that Max’s face dropped for real.

“Okay” She followed El and waved the boys goodbye as she stepped out the door.

“They are really great, aren’t they?” She said when the door to the arcade had closed behind them and they were walking to the police car a few yards away.

“Yeah they are really great” El agreed and couldn’t help but to tease Max about her silly wide smile. The totally had a thing for Lucas especially. But El didn’t mention that. 

Instead they stepped both very happy into the car that drove away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was kind of short, sorry. And I also have to apologize for the major mistakes I did in the last chapter! 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading! 
> 
> -T


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